Genera 8.1ReleaseNotes Genera8.1:IntroductionandHighlights Genera 8.1 includes several new features as well as a number of bug fixes and performance improvements. Genera 8.1 is a unified release for all Symbolics plat forms,includingthenewMacIvorynodel3. Thenewfeaturesareasfollows: • Common Lisp Interface Manager (CLIM). CLIM provides a highlevel language for defining presentationbased user interfaces that run under Genera and CLOE, on UNIXbasedworkstations, and on PCs that support Common Lisp.The importantfeaturesofCLIMare: ° CLIM provides a portable user interface. CLIM fits into an existing host system. With CLIM you can achieve the look and feel of the target host system without implementing it directly, and with outusingthelowlevelimplementationlanguageofthehostsystem. ° CLIM is based on a presentation model. The CLIM presentation model provides the advantages of having the visual representation of an object linked directly to its semantics. CLIM’s presenta tionmodelissimilartothatusedinDynamicWindows. ° CLIM supports high-level programming techniques. Using CLIM capabilities you can develop a user interfaceconveniently, includ ing formatted output, graphics,windowing, and commands that are invoked by typingtextorclickingamouse,amongothertechniques. • Some features from the X3J13 Common Lisp, including Conditions and the LOOP Facility See the section "X3J13 Common Lisp Features". See the section "Documentation Update: futurecommonlisp:loop". See the section "Documenta tionUpdate:X3J13Conditions". • Netbooting for Ivory machines. In Genera 8.1, netbooting Ivory machines works exactly the same as netbooting 3600family machines. See the section "Netboot ing". You should note, however, that you cannot netboot preGenera 8.1 worlds fromIvorymachines. • Significant performance improvement of Tables. The external interface is un changed, but the underlying implementation has been redesigned and reimple mentedforspeed. Page 62 • Optical and SCSI disk drive support on XL machines. On XL machines, Genera 8.1 supports the Storage Dimensions MacinStor Erasable Optical 1000 erasable optical disk drive. You can create a FEP file system on an optical disk, and ac cess the FEP file system in the usual ways. You can use the optical disk to store large files such as image files, world loads, and Statice databases. For moreinformation, seethesection"SCSIDeviceSupportforXLMachinesinGenera8.1". • Bundling of some software which was previously sold separately as layered products,includingIPTCP,StaticeRuntime,andseveralothers. Genera 8.1 bundles (includes without extra cost) some software which was previ ously sold separately as layered products. Sources and binaries for the following bundled software are now part of the regular Genera 8.1 Sources: IPTCP, NFS, XWindows, DMP1, LGP2/3, Delivery DocEx, and Statice Runtime. See the sec tion "Documentation Update: Statice Runtime". NFS Supplemental sources are also now part of the regular Genera 8.1 Sources. Concordia Supplemental SourcesarenowpartoftheConcordialayeredproduct. • QIC11and6250bpitapesupportonXLmachines • The X server now conforms to MIT X11 R4 (the X client already conformed to R4). • Optional distribution on CDROM. Customers who receive distribution on CD ROMwillreceiveC,Fortran,andPascal(includingsources). • SupportfortheMacIvorymodel3. • New virus protection software for MacIvories, Symantec AntiVirus for Macin tosh (SAM), which provides an Automatic Scan feature to continously monitor yoursystemasyouwork.Seethesection"SymantecAntiVirusforMacintosh". • There is a new recommended format for boot files for Ivory machines, see the section"ChangestoBootFilesforIvoryMachines". Genera 8.1 includes all the improvements and modifications in Genera 8.0 XL, Genera 8.0 ECO #1, and Genera 8.0 ECO #2, as well as additional improvements. Therefore, this document includes documentation of improvements made in all three previous ECO releases. See the section "Documentation of Genera 8.0 ECO #1". See the section "Documentation of Genera 8.0 ECO #2". See the section "Gen era8.0XLDocumentationUpdate". CLIMinGenera8.1 Page 63 OverviewofCLIM CLIM, the Common Lisp Interface Manager, is a portable highlevel objectoriented userinterface management system. It provides a full spectrum of capabilities for describing the user interface of an application and implementing that user inter faceonavarietyofcomputersandwindowsystems. CLIM is portable in several respects.It is written in a standard dialectof Common Lisp and CLOS, and is therefore executable by numerous computers provided by various vendors. Also, user interfaces described by CLIM are independent of any particular window system or output device, so that CLIM applications are readily portabletodifferenthardwareandsoftwareplatforms. CLIM provides high level facilities for describing a user interface. Complex user interface behaviors such as incremental redisplay, formatting textual and graphical output, context sensitive documentation, direct manipulation, and mixed keyboard mouseinteractionareeasilydescribedwithaminimumofspecializedcode. CLIM is objectoriented in several respects. It is implemented in Common Lisp Ob ject System (CLOS), and uses objectoriented techniques to great advantage inter nally. More importantly, CLIM provides an objectoriented model for integrating an application with its user interface. This presentation model associates user inter face behavior directly with application objects, which allows an application to de scribeitsuserinterfaceintermsofitsownsemantics. CLIMprovidesthefollowingfacilities: • Windows Convenient facilities for creating, placing, and manipulating win dows,includingmanagingmarginsandscrollbars. • Streams Streamoriented, deviceindependent input and output of arbitrarily mixedtext,graphics,andpresentations. • Graphics A rich graphics model which includes a variety of common geomet ric shapes (such as lines, rectangles, polygons, and ellipses), drawing options (such as line thickness and joint shape), a sophisticated inking model for de scribing patterns and color, and full affine coordinate transformations (transla tion,rotation,scaling). • Styled text output The appearance of textual output (font family,typeface, and size) is specified with an abstract, device independent mechanism called text style. • Output recording A facility for capturing all output done to a window, which providesthebasisforarbitrarilyscrollableandredisplayablewindows. • Presentations Presentations associate user interface behavior with application objects, using objectoriented programming technniques.The user interface of an application may be described in terms of its own semantics, using the high level language of presentation types, instead of the lower level language of keystrokes,mouseevents,andwidgets. Page 64 • Menus and Dialogs Many types of menus and dialogs may be automatically generated, using the presentation type facility to describe the desired appear anceandbehavior. • Context-sensitive input An application accepts direction from the user by es tablishing a context in which certain classes of operations and operands are valid, using presentation types. The user interface system uses this context to provide appropriate documentation and feedback to assist the user, and assures theapplicationthatusersuppliedvaluesareappropriate. • Commands The user interface operations of an application are described by commands, which operate on presentation types. This uniform mechanism is used for all interaction styles, including direct manipulation, menus, dialogs, keystrokeaccelerators,andcommandlines. • Formatted output Highlevel macros allow applications to produce neatly for mattedtabularandgraphicaldisplayswithlittleadditionalprogramming. • Incremental Redisplay Recorded output may be changed and thedisplay incre mentallyandefficientlyupdated,withoutextensiveprogramming. • Application frames The screen layout and top level behavior of an application aredescribedbyapplicationframes. For detailed user and reference documentation about CLIM, see the section "Com monLispInterfaceManager(CLIM):Release1.0". CLIM incorporates refined versions of many features and concepts from Symbolics Dynamic Windows. See the section "Comparing and Contrasting DW and CLIM" for a description of their similarities and differences. There is a facility to assist in the task of converting Dynamic Windows software to CLIM, see the section "Con verting from DW to CLIM". Note that conversion of existing Genera software to CLIMiswhollyoptional,andthatDynamicWindowswillcontinuetobesupported. TheCLIMStandard The Common Lisp Interface Manager was defined and developed by a consortium of cooperating Lisp vendors, including Franz, International Lisp Associates, Lucid, Symbolics, and Xerox PARC. We consider CLIM a de facto standard, though it may be proposed for official standardization after the community has gained experience usingit. Symbolics provides versions of CLIM for Symbolics computers running Genera and IBMcompatible personal computers running CLOE. For other platforms, compati ble versions of CLIM are available from the vendors listed above among others. Contact your Lisp vendor for availability information, or International Lisp Asso ciatesifyourvendorhasnocurrentplanstoofferCLIM. Page 65 Symbolics CLIM 1.0, and the CLIM implementations available in 1991 from other vendors, are based on a reference implementation of CLIM called CLIM Version 1. Throughout 1991, the CLIM consortium will be working on a new reference imple mentation which